


fighting for love

by Hellokaelyn



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21676240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hellokaelyn/pseuds/Hellokaelyn
Summary: "You have to fight for someone you really love, and if you really truly love them..then you'll get them, it just takes time."
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 11
Kudos: 69





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This got away from me a little bit and most likely went off-course.

Nick lay in bed with his hands folded across his stomach staring up at the ceiling when the bedroom door creaked open.

"Daddy?" A tiny voice asked in the semi dark room, only lit by a lamp in the corner. 

"Hey bud." Nick whispered, sitting up against the pillows as he patted the spot next to him. "Come on up."

A large smile took over the little boy's face looking so much like himself at that age with just a few differences. Gripping his stuffed llama tightly, he shuffled across the carpet in his Star Wars footie pajamas and climbed onto the high bed with only a little struggle. Right away he crawled over to Nick, tucking himself against his side. Nick smiled and wrapped an arm around him, pressing a kiss to the side of his head. 

"You have a nightmare?" Nick asked quietly. 

"No! I'm a big boy, big boys don't have nightmares." 

"Jason.." Nick gave him a stern look. 

Jason sighed. "I had a nightmare."

"You wanna talk about it?" 

"No." Jason shook his head, looking up at Nick with big eyes. "But _you_ need to talk Daddy."

Raising an eyebrow, he let out a small scoff. "I do?"

Jason nodded, his eyes turning sad making Nick's stomach sink. "You're sad Daddy."

"Bud I'm not sad, I have you-"

"I heard you talking to Auntie Lucia."

Nick swallowed the lump rising in his throat. He knew exactly where this was going. "Oh?"

"Uh-huh, you guys were talking about love and I heard Auntie Lucia say 'Ellie'!" Nick froze. "Do you love Ellie, Daddy?" 

"I.." He thought about lying, but right as he considered it, the words came pouring out. "Yes."

"So why aren't you with her?" Jason scrunched up his nose in confusion. "Ellie is nice. She bakes me cookies, reads to me, and helps me with the hard math questions!" 

Nick's heart clenched hearing the fondness in his son's voice towards Ellie. God could he relate. 

"It's a lot more complicated than that Bud..Ellie and I have a history, and relationships aren't always simple."

Jason frowned. "But Daddy, you told me Torres' don't give up!"

He chuckled as his own words were thrown back at him. "Who said I gave up?"

Jason let out a frustrated groan. "I'm a _kid_ , you're gonna have to explain!"

Nick's laugh rang throughout the room. He ruffled Jason's hair making him huff. "You have to fight for someone you really love, and if you really truly love them..then you'll get them, it just takes time."

"So..you're fighting for Ellie?"

"Yeah bud..I'm fighting." Nick sighed quietly. "We've both made mistakes, but sometimes real love just takes time."

"Does that mean Ellie will be my mommy someday?" Jason asked, perking up at the thought with a grin. "I always wanted a mommy!"

Nick again swallowed the lump rising in his throat, this time it was the tears and emotions at those words. Nick would never.. _never_ forgive Jason's mom for leaving, they weren't together so he didn't care on that front..but her leaving behind her baby without any care or thought was something he could never forgive.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Nick said in an exaggerated whisper. Jason nodded, his eyes wide. "I can't promise it'll happen..but I'd really like that too."

Jason squealed, lifting himself up then dropping down onto Nick's chest with his whole weight. Nick laughed in the middle of a groan as he got an elbow hard in the stomach.

* * *

_Nick leaned against the building across the street, a perfect view in the large restaurant windows of Ellie sitting across from Ricky, her face bright with a smile as she laughed. Not that fake exaggerated laugh, but a real one._

_He opened the beer can in his hand, taking a large gulp of it. He lost count of how many he's had ages ago._

_It was when Ricky reached across the table to grab her hand that Nick had enough._

_Downing the rest of the can effortlessly, he tossed it in the trash and walked away with a slight stumble in his step before straightening himself._

_Ellie was right earlier when she said they weren't official. And if she could go out with someone else, then he damn well could too._

_Nick entered a bar an hour later, and an hour after that his alcohol clouded mind barely registered the blonde woman on his lap straddling him in the backseat of her car._

* * *

_Ellie looked at him with red rimmed eyes, a sniffle escaping her every few seconds from the crying she had just finished._

_He had just told her the news. In just a few months time he'd be a father._

_They both agreed it'd be best to end this thing between them, whatever it was. Nick had his impending fatherhood to worry about, and what they had, wasn't healthy for either of them. His increased drinking being a major indicator (he refused to tell her he only did it when she went on dates)._

_Nick stood up, rubbing at his own eyes that made it obvious Ellie hadn't been the only one crying at one point._

_Not another word was spoken._

_He leaned down, pressing a lingering kiss on her forehead before leaving her apartment. Once the door shut behind him, he sunk down the wall beside it. His body shook with a suppressed sob._

_Nick could almost feel his heart break._

* * *

_"So um-" Ellie said lowly. "Where is he?"_

_"Still at the hospital." Nick mumbled, the air between them thick with awkwardness and the tension that always seemed to be there with them..the kind of tension that caused that thing with them to explode in the first place. Sexual tension mixed with something else. "Keeping him another night for observation, I got told to come home and get some rest."_

_"And..and Bethany?"_

_"Gone." Nick's eyes turned dark with anger. "I went to check on Jason and when I got back to her room she was gone."_

_"Nick-" Ellie swallowed, slowly reaching out and placing her hand on his arm. "She doesn't deserve you or Jason."_

_"I didn't call you here for a pep talk." Nick's eyes once again turned dark, but this time with something else as he moved closer trapping her body against the wall by the door._

_She sucked in a breath but didn't shove him away. Instead, when he leaned in to kiss her and his kisses trailed down to her neck, Ellie tilted her head giving him full access as her eyes fluttered at the feeling of him again._

_When their lips crashed together, it was as if the world around them disappeared. Neither of them bothered with moving away from the door or undressing._

_When it was over, the only sound was their heavy breathing as Nick set Ellie down from where he had her pinned to the wall. He didn't bother fixing himself, instead he watched her, flushed and a bit sweaty as she pulled her dress down, smoothing her hands along the fabric._

_"You'll be a great dad, Nick." Ellie whispered before leaving out the door._

_"You're a fucking idiot Torres." He mumbled to himself with a sigh._

_His eyes then caught sight of the ripped lace fabric on the floor. It was the only article of clothing that came off in his desperate need to have her.  
_

_Things needed to change. He needed to change. For his son. Jason didn't deserve to have the sorry excuse for a human being he was as a father and he certainly wouldn't want Jason to end up like him._

* * *

  
_One day it hit him._

_He watched from the kitchen table that gave him a direct line of view into the living room where Ellie was on the floor playing with Jason. He was supposed to be working on the paperwork she brought over for him that he didn't get a chance to finish earlier, having to rush to the daycare to pick Jason up as his usual babysitter was sick._

_But how could he focus with this scene right in front of him?_

_Ellie was smiling softly at the little boy in her lap, making exaggerated gasps as she pointed to things in the large book laid out before them. Jason would clap his hands happily, and turn his head up to look at her with a big toothy grin._

_That was when it hit him._

_He loved Ellie, had for a while._

_Nick was going to fight._

_Fight for Ellie, their relationship, their love- all of it._

_No more excuses, no more mistakes, no more denial._

* * *

After his talk with Jason, he felt a stronger urge to fight. Jason of all people, his five year old son, had realized he was sad. Nick had tried his hardest to always keep a smile on his face, to keep a happy environment around his son..but sometimes he forgot how smart Jason really was. If this was some TV drama and not real life, he'd swear Ellie was really his son's mother with how smart he was. God knows he and Bethany weren't that smart.

Nick had always been a fighter. Ever since he was five years old himself and his dad left. Now it was time to become the Nick he had let go of after Jason was born, the Nick who said fuck it and went out to get what he wanted. 

Which led him to where he was now.

Sitting outside Ellie's apartment in his car, his stomach in knots as a man came out of the building whistling getting into his car. 

Nick took a breath watching the guy drive away. He knew the guy came from Ellie's. Another guy in the long string of guys she had been with since they last had sex five years ago. Their roles had been reversed since that day. Nick became the one who would rather sit at home in comfy clothes either reading or watching something, and Ellie was the one going out on dates or just to bars and in the process bringing some of the guys she met home. They had both changed in the last five years. 

And yet..Nick's love for her never faded.

Before he could change his mind, Nick was out of his car and jogging up the walkway to her apartment. 

"Coming!" Ellie called seconds after he knocked. When she opened the door, it was just her head that appeared, peeking around the door. "Nick? What're you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you? Can I come in?" She nodded slowly, looking worried as she let him in. Nick felt his mouth go dry when he looked at her. Ellie was wearing nothing but a towel, hair and skin still wet from obviously just getting out of the shower.

If this was years ago, he knew she would have blushed and ran to her bedroom to grab clothes..but Ellie instead made sure the knot on her towel was tied and set her hands on her hips, not even caring that the towel was just barely covering. 

"I'm tired of this bullshit Ellie."

"What bullshit? Where's Jason? It's pretty late-"

"He's at the McGee's for a sleepover, don't try and change the subject." Nick snapped a little. She did that a lot, anytime he tried talking about it or hint at it, she'd switch the subject. 

"Nick-"

"No Ellie! No more or this 'no one will break first' shit! We're _adults_ for fucks sake, it's about time we started acting like it!"

Ellie's shoulders seemed to deflate at his words, her eyes softening. "We went through this already Nick..we didn't work together-"

"That's the thing-" Nick stepped closer until he was in front of her, her back against the kitchen counter. "Last time there was no 'we', we weren't actually together and we didn't talk about what we both truly wanted."

"That's true.." Ellie said lowly. "Why didn't we?..Ever talk about what we wanted?"

"Stupidity? Unresolved sexual tension clouding our minds?" Nick shrugged. "But fuck Ellie, what I wanted then is still what I want now."

She looked at him with slightly wide eyes, hope shining in them so clearly it made his heart clench. "Really?"

"I loved you then, and I love you still." Nick said softly, fingers gently running along her cheek as his eyes never left hers.

Ellie let out a little gasp, her eyes watering. "Even after all the-" She swallowed. "After all the-"

"Guys?" Nick chuckled. "Ellie we've all got our own form of dirty laundry, hell you know I wasn't exactly a saint myself back then."

"You aren't..disgusted? Turned off? I've been in love with you for years and instead of confessing I slept around and-"

Nick cut her off with a kiss. One that he poured his feelings into, it was slow but full of passion. Ellie gripped onto his shirt, her whimper getting lost in the kiss. 

"I am far from disgusted or turned off." Nick said in a low growl when he pulled away. 

In a quick movement, Nick grabbed onto the edge of her towel, yanking it from her body. Ellie gasped from the action and the cold air hitting her now completely naked body. Grabbing onto her thighs, Nick lifted her onto the counter, at the same time he kissed her again. Her fingers went to his belt, fumbling a little as his kissing distracted her from the task at hand. 

Ellie's cry of pleasure rang out through her apartment when finally after five years, he had her once more. It was just as desperate to have each other and passionate as their times before except one different factor. 

Love. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An old face shows up.

One of the last things she expected when taking Jason to the park was seeing her. 

Ellie knew it was probably ridiculous but she had envied Bethany for so long. Nick had never done anything with the woman other than sleeping with her once, but Ellie had been jealous. She didn't have many interactions with the woman as she tried to avoid it with that sinking feeling in her stomach every time she saw her pregnant.

And now suddenly here Bethany was, right in front of her. Bethany who had left her baby, left Nick to deal with parenting a newborn alone. 

Ellie pulled Jason close to her by the shoulders. He stared at Bethany with wide eyes, his body stiff. 

"Ellie." Bethany put on an obviously fake smile. "It's so nice to see you!" Her eyes then landed on Jason. 

She reacted before her mouth even opened.

"Jason, get in the car. I'll be there in a second, okay?" Ellie told him gently with a bit of urgency in her voice.

Jason didn't fight it. With a nod of his head he ran the short distance to the car, Ellie pressed the button on her keys to unlock the door making sure to lock it as soon as he was safe inside. She didn't trust the woman who birthed him one bit and no way in _hell_ was she getting her hands on her _son_. 

* * *

Jason felt his heart race, his eyes trained on his mommy and _that_ woman out of the car window. 

His hands were shaking as he took his mommy's phone out of his pocket that he slipped out of her own before she told him to go. Just as daddy taught him. 

Jason next did another thing his daddy taught him. 

He found the contact in the phone and sent a text.

_SOS_

* * *

  
Ellie's body was tense, her hands itching to clench into fists but she wouldn't let Bethany see her react like that. 

"I wasn't going to hurt him." Bethany scoffed. "He's my son not yours!"

A scoff left her mouth before she could stop it. "Oh please! I've been more of a mom to him then you ever have! You _left_ him."

Bethany laughed humorlessly. "Let me guess, you're with Nick?"

"Married to him actually." Ellie snapped. 

She watched satisfied as jealousy and anger flashed in her eyes. 

"I'm not surprised." Bethany crossed her arms and sneered. "You two could rarely be in the same place without screwing each other. Disgusting, honestly."

Ellie snorted. "Because you don't sound jealous _at all_."

"I wonder how your boss would react finding out two of his best agents never actually went to lunch and really were just going to find a place to fuck?"

She wanted to laugh at how confident Bethany seemed. "Is that supposed to be a threat? You do remember two seconds ago when I just said Nick and I were married, right? Neither Gibbs or Vance would care anymore, especially considering that's in the past." 

Bethany pursed her lips in annoyance. "Doesn't mean it wasn't disgusting and unprofessional."

This time Ellie really did laugh, loudly. "Says the woman who got pregnant having sex in the backseat of a car with a man she barely knew!" 

"You bitch!" Bethany took a step closer, but as her arm started to raise, a hand grabbed it and yanked it back down.

"Don't even think about it." Nick hissed in a harsh tone. 

Bethany's eyes widened, not expecting him to show up at all. "Nick! It's been too long-"

"Oh save it for someone who gives a shit." He snapped. "You can turn around and walk away back to wherever you came from."

"But Nick-"

"Shut the fuck up." Nick's voice turned dark, Bethany looked afraid and Ellie couldn't blame her. If she didn't know Nick and wasn't an agent, she'd be scared of him too. His glare was hard, one that could rival Gibbs' glare. "Go."

Bethany actually listened. Slowly she backed away, until she turned and walked away quickly in the opposite direction. 

Nick didn't waste any time in turning towards Ellie and pulling her in a hug. "I'm sorry you had to deal with her."

"Nick..did you just ditch in the middle of therapy?"

He pulled away with a sheepish smile and a shrug. "Well Jason texted me an SOS and-"

"Wait? Jason?" 

Ellie frowned, looking back at the car to see Jason with his face shoved against the window. She couldn't help but let out a small laugh at how comical he looked.

And also the fact he had just _pickpocketed_ her phone like a pro.

"Nick! You taught our son how to pickpocket already?!"

"Oops?" He chuckled, grabbing her hand as they walked over to the car. Ellie rolled her eyes and took out her keys to unlock the door.

Jason came tumbling out of the car, running towards Ellie and wrapping his arms around her. "Are you okay mommy?!"

"I'm fine Jase." She smiled, running her fingers through his hair.

"Is baby okay?!" Jason placed his ear on her stomach, expecting to hear an answer to his question.

Ellie and Nick both laughed. "Bud, you won't be able to hear anything."

"Baby is fine, sweetie." Ellie told him with an adoring smile. Her heart so full of love for the littlest Torres. 

"Come on you two, let's get home huh?" Nick told them. "We have a movie marathon to finish, don't we?"

"Yes!" Jason cheering, running back to the car. 

Nick squeezed Ellie's hand, leaning in to kiss her softly. She sighed with a smile and swung their hands as they walked.

And just like that..

_Their love story continued._

**Author's Note:**

> Line taken from a Q&A Shawn Mendes did 🙏
> 
> Another chapter coming soon! (there was a scene I wanted to write that didn't fit here so stay tuned!)


End file.
